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Thursday, April 30, 2015

It’s been a fantastic post-season in the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. But the semifinals… they weren’t so great.

The Quebec Remparts and Rimouski Oceanic
both advanced to the President Cup finals with sweeps over the Moncton Wildcats
and Val-d’Or Foreurs, respectively. Quebec outscored Moncton 20-5 and Rimouski
outscored Val-d’Or 17-5.

Of course, with Quebec hosting this
year’s Memorial Cup, Rimouski has automatically earned a berth in the
tournament.

Although it’s hard to believe given the
regular season success of the Remparts over the past decade, this will be
Quebec’s first appearance in the league final since 2006 when they lost to the
Wildcats. Rimouski returns to the final for the first time since 2012 where
they lost to Saint John.

Rimouski won the regular season series between
the two, going 5-2-1-0.

With both teams getting their semifinal
series done so quickly, the schedule for the final will be a bit funky.

Marcus Cuomo is the only former Sea Dog
taking part in the President Cup final.

Tomas Jurco and the Detroit Red Wings
had their season come to an end last night with a 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay
Lightning in game seven of their first round series. Jurco only saw 7:19 of ice
time last night, recording one shot.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

There won't be a Maritimes based team in
the President Cup final this year.

The Moncton Wildcats, the last
non-Quebec team remaining, had their season come to an end last night with a
7-0 loss to the Quebec Remparts. The Remparts swept the semifinal series in four games,
outscoring the 'Cats 20-5.

Quebec, this year’s Memorial Cup host
team, has been steadily improving ever since their seven-game first round
series against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The Remparts have now won nine
straight games and swept their past two series.

Moncton’s season ending means an end to
former Sea Dogs forward Noah Zilbert’s season. He had eight goals and eight assists in
33 regular season games with the Wildcats and added another two assists in 12
playoff games.

The Remparts feature former Sea Dogs
forward Marcus Cuomo but he has not played since the first round.

Meanwhile, in the other semifinal, the
Rimouski Oceanic lead the Val-d’Or Foreurs 3-0 heading into game four tonight.
With Quebec advancing to the league final, the winner of the Rimouski-Val-d’Or
series will automatically earn a trip to the Memorial Cup.

Some other news and notes…

Tomas Jurco and the Detroit Red Wings
are in Tampa Bay tonight to face the Lightning in game seven of their first
round series. The winner will go on to play Nathan Beaulieu and the Montreal
Canadiens in the second round.

Charlie Coyle and the Minnesota Wild
will face the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round while Simon Despres and
the Anaheim Ducks will take on the Calgary Flames. The Anaheim series begins
tomorrow and the Minnesota series on Friday.

Mike Hoffman finished the playoffs with
one goal and two assists in six games with the Ottawa Senators.

Noel finished the tournament with two
assists in seven games. Chabot had one goal and five assists in seven games,
placing him third in tournament defensemen scoring.

Sea Dogs defenseman Jakub Zboril had his
tournament end in the quarterfinals when the United States defeated the Czech
Republic 7-2. He registered a goal and an assist in the three games he was
eligible to play in.

The United States, which also defeated
Canada 7-2 in Saturday’s semifinal, defeated Finland 2-1 in overtime this afternoon to take
home the gold.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

MONCTON – Four teams remain in the hunt
for the QMJHL’s President Cup.

The quarterfinals just ended on Tuesday
night but the semifinals start swinging right away with the Quebec Remparts taking
on the Moncton Wildcats tonight at the Coliseum. In the other series, the top
seeded Rimouski Oceanic take on the red hot Val-d’Or Foreurs beginning tomorrow night.

This year’s playoffs have been
exceptional and hopefully this round will be as well. Here are the Station Nation
staff’s picks.

Val-d’Or Foreurs (6) vs Rimouski Oceanic
(1)

Kevin Chambers – SN Draft Guru: Rimouski
in 5

The Rimouski Oceanic are coming off another short series against an underrated Gatineau squad and have still only
lost a single game through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The
Val-d’Or Foreurs are coming off an improbable victory in seven games after
being down three games to none against the Baie Comeau Drakkar. Both teams
will be riding a wave of momentum so something has to give and I’m sticking with
the favorites in this one – the Oceanic. Their offense will expose the Foreurs’
defense and goaltending. The Oceanic are better in all areas and the stakes are
high given the winner could potentially get a bye into the Memorial Cup (with a
Quebec victory over Moncton).

Lorne Webster – SN Writer: Rimouski in 5
After a huge comeback from 0-3 to defeat
Baie-Comeau of OT in game seven, the Foreurs behaved poorly. I have a feeling
that karma is going to come back to haunt them. A powerful - and well-rested -
crew from Rimouski are simply too strong for Val-d'Or this time around. The
Oceanic entered the season as big time favorites and appear to be on their way
to an appearance in the Memorial Cup.

Jamie Tozer – SN Editor: Rimouski in 5

I see this series being like the
Winnipeg – Anaheim series that just ended. The games will be close but the
series will end quickly. The Foreurs, although they are no doubt feeling some
fatigue from their quarterfinal series, will be riding plenty of momentum and
should give the Oceanic a decent run – but not a long run. Rimouski is just too
good and they’ve shown that so far in this year’s playoffs.

Hoffman scored at 9:05 of the third period last night,
a goal that ended up being the only one scored in the game. The Senators, facing
elimination, are now down 3-1 in their first round series against the Montreal Canadiens.

The goal was Hoffman’s first of the
playoffs. He had a few good scoring chances in the game, finishing the night
with four shots in 12:54 of ice time.

According to Hockey Night in Canada, the
shot clocked in at 124.9 km/h.

As expected, Nathan Beaulieu did not play
for the Habs last night. He will miss the remainder of the series with an upper body
injury.

Some other news and notes…

Simon Despres helped set up the game and
series winning goal as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 last
night to complete a series sweep. Despres registered an assist on Ryan Kesler’s
third period goal at 6:41, making it 3-1 Ducks at the time. Despres also had
two shots and four hits in an impressive 20:49 of ice time. Only one Duck had
more ice time than Despres.

It was a rough night for Charlie Coyle and
the Minnesota Wild as they fell 6-1 to the St. Louis Blues on home ice last
night. Coyle was held pointless with one shot and a -1 rating in 14:43 of ice
time. The series is now tied 2-2.

Tomas Jurco and the Detroit Red Wings
return to action tonight. They lead the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in the series
after a 3-0 win on Tuesday. Jurco played just 6:49 in game three. The former
Sea Dog has been credited with a goal in this year’s playoffs thanks to a
scoring change in game one, a goal that came eight seconds into the second
period. From the Red Wings website: “by changing the goal, it also means that
Jurco now owns the Wings’ club playoff record for the fastest goal at the start
of a period. The previous mark was 0:09 set by Gordie Howe in
the first period of Game 5 of the 1954 Stanley Cup semifinals against Toronto
goalie Harry Lumley.”

At the Under-18 World Hockey
Championship today, the Czech Republic takes on the United States and Team
Canada faces Sweden.

The QMJHL semifinals begin tonight with
Noah Zilbert and the Moncton Wildcats hosting Marcus Cuomo’s Quebec Remparts.
Cuomo has not played since the first round.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Wildcats defeated the Halifax
Mooseheads 6-3 last night in game seven of a wild and whacky quarterfinal
playoff series at the Moncton Coliseum. The victory advanced the Wildcats to
the league semifinals where they’ll play the Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts.

Game one of the Wildcats-Remparts
semifinal series is tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Coliseum.

It certainly wasn’t the prettiest series
for the Wildcats but it was entertaining. Alex Dubeau was good when he had to
be and Connor Garland and Ivan Barbashev stepped up at key times. Garland had five assists last night, nearly matching the six he registered in game five.

Making it to game seven of the second
round has to be considered an accomplishment for the Mooseheads, who were seeded
12th entering the playoffs. Nikolaj Ehlers was unreal this post-season
and likely played his last game with the Mooseheads last night.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

It was a big day for Saint John Sea Dogs
defensemen at the IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship in Switzerland.

In Canada’s 3-2 victory over Finland,
Thomas Chabot recorded a goal and an assist to go along with two shots. Chabot
finished the preliminary round of the tournament with one goal and four assists
in four games.

Thomas Chabot
named player of the game for Canada. Not surprised, strong showing. A little
rough around the edges but has lots of potential.— Cody
Nickolet (@DubFromAbove) April
21, 2015

Sea Dogs forward Nathan Noel had one
shot in the game. Noel has two assists in four games.

Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic’s 5-0
win over Switzerland, Jakub Zboril returned to action and registered a goal and
an assist. He also had three shots, was a +4 and was named the Czech’s player
of the game.

Canada won Group A with a 4-0 record
while the Czech Republic finished with a 2-2 record. Canada will play Sweden in
the quarterfinals on Thursday while the Czechs will play the United States.

Monday, April 20, 2015

It was a hit heard ‘round the hockey world
last night, and unfortunately for Nathan Beaulieu, he was the victim.

Midway through the second period of last
night’s playoff game between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens,
Beaulieu got rocked by Erik Karlsson in open ice.

It was a rough game for Beaulieu who
took a few big hits. His team had the last laugh though, winning 2-1 in
overtime and taking a 3-0 series lead. Game four is Wednesday night in Ottawa.
Beaulieu’s status for the game is unclear.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Team Canada improved to 3-0 at the World
Under-18 Hockey Championship today with a 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic.

Shawinigan’s Anthony Beauvillier had two
goals for Canada while Parker Wotherspoon added the other. Saint John’s Thomas
Chabot had one assist in the game while Nathan Noel was held pointless.

Chabot now has three assists in three
games at the tournament to go along with four shots on goal. Noel has two assists and
four shots in three games.

Sea Dogs defenseman Jakub Zboril was not
in the Czechs lineup today. He also didn’t play in the team’s 4-1 win over Latvia on
Friday. Turns out Zboril must serve a two-game suspension that the QMJHL handed
him, a suspension the IIHF wasn’t made aware of until after the Czech’s first
game of the tournament. The Czech’s lost the game Zboril appeared in, so not
much will change. From the IIHF release:

Following the tournament Directorate
meeting held on Saturday night, it was decided that the use of Zboril as an
ineligible player will not affect the result of the Finland-Czech Republic
game, which will be maintained as 6-1 win for Finland. The result will not be a
forfeit and players that registered points in the game will not be affected,
with the exception of Zboril whose statistics registered in the game will be
discounted.

The Czech Republic plays their final
game of the preliminary round on Tuesday against Switzerland. Canada will play
Finland on Tuesday.

FREDERICTON – A packed house with an
electric atmosphere propelled the Moncton Wildcats to a 7-3 victory over the
Halifax Mooseheads last night at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton.

Ivan Barbashev had four goals and two
assists while Conor Garland had six assists. Garland was originally credited
with seven helpers – assisting on every Wildcats goal – but later had one
removed.

It was a fairly dominant performance
from the Wildcats from start to finish. They scored less than two minutes in
and led 3-0 after the first period. Moncton outshot Halifax 43-25 overall.

Halifax’s big guns – imports Nikolaj
Ehlers and Timo Meier – were held to just one goal and two assists. Ehlers was
a -4 on the night.

Former Sea Dogs forward Kelly Bent had a goal and was his typical, aggitating self for the Mooseheads. Noah Zilbert - a Fredericton - was held pointless in the win.

Along with the performance on Barbashev
and Garland, the big story was the atmosphere at the Aitken Centre. The 3,278 fans
that filled the building were very pro-Wildcats and loudly cheered on their
team from start to finish. It was electric and significantly louder than a
Moncton Coliseum game. Even the boos for Ehlers – who was booed after being
“injured” on a Stephen Johnson hit in game two – carried over into the game.

The Wildcats now lead the second round
series 3-2 heading into game six on Sunday afternoon in Halifax. A game seven,
if needed, would be played on Tuesday night in Moncton.

Some other news and notes…

Elsewhere in the QMJHL last night, the
Rimouski Oceanic eliminated the Gatineau Olympiques with a 4-1 win in game five
of their second round series. Former Sea Dogs forward Joey Richard was held
pointless with a -2 rating in the game, finishing the playoffs with three goals
and five assists in 11 games.

In the other series that is still going
on, Val-d’Or defeated Baie-Comeau 5-2 in game five. The Drakkar now lead that
series 3-2.

In the NHL playoffs last night, Nathan
Beaulieu had three hits in 12:47 of ice time in the Montreal Canadiens’ 3-2
overtime win over the Ottawa Senators. Mike Hoffman had three hits and two
penalty minutes in 12:40 of ice time in the loss.

Tomas Jurco, Charlie Coyle and Simon
Despres are back in action today/tonight.

Today at the Under-18s, Nathan Noel,
Thomas Chabot and Team Canada take on Switzerland at 1:30 p.m. That game can be
seen on TSN.

There were two Newfoundland teams in the
Allan Cup semifinals but neither will play in the final. Jason Churchill’s
Clarenville Caribous, the hosts of this year’s tournament, lost 4-1 to the
South East Prairie Thunder while Danny Wicks and the Grand Falls-Windsor
Cataracts fell 5-4 to the Bentley Generals.

Friday, April 17, 2015

FREDERICTON – After needing seven games
to knock off the pesky Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the first round, the
Quebec Remparts are advancing to the QMJHL semifinals thanks to a series sweep
of the Charlottetown Islanders.

The Remparts completed the 4-0 series
win last night in Charlottetown, defeating the Islanders 5-2. Quebec outscored
Charlottetown 21-9 in the series.

The series win should calm some nerves
in Quebec City, the city that will host this year’s Memorial Cup. Zach Fucale
started and won all four games of the series which is certainly good news for
the Remparts.

For the Islanders, just making it to the
second round was a big step forward for the franchise. They’ll look to build
off this year’s success next season.

Former Sea Dogs forward Oliver Cooper
finished the playoffs with two goals and four assists in 10 games. He was held
pointless in the Quebec series. Will Thompson, a former Dogs defenseman,
finished the post-season with one assist in seven games.

The other playoff series resume tonight.
Baie-Comeau leads Val-d’Or 3-1 and Rimouski also leads Gatineau 3-1. Moncton
and Halifax are tied 2-2.

Some other news and notes…

Despite being outshot 46-14, Tomas Jurco
and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in game one of
their first round playoff series. Jurco had one hit and was a -1 in 9:51 of ice
time. He played 1:21 on the power play.

Charlie Coyle had three shots and four
hits in 14:08 of ice time, helping the Minnesota Wild defeat the St. Louis
Blues 4-2 in game one. Fredericton’s Jake Allen made 25 saves in the loss.

Simon Despres had two shots and three
hits in 16:48 of ice time and helped the Anaheim Ducks down the Winnipeg Jets
4-2 in game one. Despres also played 1:26 on the Ducks’ penalty kill.

At the Allan Cup, Jason Churchill’s
Clarenville Caribous defeated the Dundas Real McCoys 2-1 last night to advance
to the semifinals. The Caribous will face the South East Prairie Thunder in the
semis. The other Newfoundland team, the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts, will
take on the Bentley Generals in the other semifinal. The Cataracts feature
former Sea Dog Danny Wicks.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

In a surprisingly entertaining game,
Team Canada defeated Latvia 11-6 to kick off the World Under-18 Hockey
Championship today in Switzerland.

Sea Dogs defenseman Thomas Chabot had an
assist in the game, firing a point shot that was redirected by Brett Howden in
the second period. Sea Dogs forward Nathan Noel had two assists, helping set up
two second period goals.

Other than an unfortunate turnover by
Noel in the first period that led to a Latvian goal, both Sea Dogs players
seemed to play quite well and drew the praises of the TSN broadcast crew.

Team Canada obviously has some work to
do after allowing six goals to the Latvians. The game was very entertaining, at
least.

Canada’s next game is on Saturday at
1:30 p.m. against Switzerland. The game can be seen on TSN.

Some other news and notes...

Jakub Zboril and the Czech Republic lost
their first game at the U-18 Championship today, falling 6-1 to Finland. Zboril
had an assist in the game. The Czechs play Latvia tomorrow. Over at The Hockey House, Zboril is
listed as one of the draft eligible players to look out for at this year’s
tournament.

Nathan Beaulieu and the Montreal
Canadiens bested Mike Hoffman and the Ottawa Senators in game one of their
first round playoff series last night, winning a thrilling game 4-3. Beaulieu
recorded an assist on Brian Flynn’s third period goal, a goal that proved to be
the game winner. Beaulieu also had two shots and two hits in 15:34 of ice time.
Meanwhile, Hoffman had three shots and a hit in 12:21 of ice time.

Tonight, Tomas Jurco and the Detroit Red
Wings open up their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Also,
Charlie Coyle and the Minnesota Wild take on the St. Louis Blues while Simon
Despres and the Anaheim Ducks face the Winnipeg Jets.

The Moncton Wildcats evened their second
round series with the Halifax Mooseheads at 2-2 with a 3-2 overtime win last
night at Scotiabank Centre. Taylor Burke scored the winner late in OT – with an
assist from Noah Zilbert. Kelly Bent tied the game for the Mooseheads late in
the second period. Game five is tomorrow night in Fredericton.

Elsewhere in the Q, Joey Richard and the
Gatineau Olympiques were shutout 3-0 by the Rimouski Oceanic last night.
Rimouski leads that series 3-1 heading into game five on Friday. In
Baie-Comeau, the Val-d’Or Foreurs staved off elimination with a 4-3
double-overtime victory over the Drakkar.

The 2015 Allan Cup is taking place in
Clarenville, Newfoundland this week. The Q News has a list of all the former
QMJHL players taking part in the senior hockey championship. Former Sea Dogs
include Jason Churchill (Clarenville), Danny Wicks (Grand Falls-Windsor) and
Charles Bergeron (P’tit Mousse de Lameque). The championship game takes place
on Saturday at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on TSN.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Nathan Beaulieu and the Montreal
Canadiens host Mike Hoffman and the Ottawa Senators in game one of their first
round series tonight at 8 p.m. on CBC. Beaulieu and Hoffman were teammates with
the Sea Dogs during the 2009-10 season.

I don’t think many Sea Dogs followers
were surprised by yesterday’s parting of ways between the team and head coach
Ross Yates.

After the team’s dismal showing in the
second half of the season and first round of the playoffs, it seemed everyone I
spoke with suggested Yates' time with the Sea Dogs was coming to an end.

The team was definitely weakened after
the trade deadline with Olivier LeBlanc sent to Cape Breton, but there were times when they
looked good – but they never looked consistently good. In the playoffs, the
team simply didn’t look prepared for their home games, and some of the blame
for that has to be put on the coaching staff.

Yates was with the Sea Dogs for three
seasons and head coach for nearly two of them. According to Buzzing the Net,
Yates finished his time with the Dogs with a 46-60-6-7 record, which really isn’t all
that bad. Hopefully he finds another coaching job somewhere.

At the end of the day, I'm not sure the Dogs - or the fan base - were 100% sold that Yates was the guy to carry this team back to
the promise land. The upcoming 2015-16 season will be a huge one moving forward and the
Sea Dogs, no doubt, want the bench being operated by the guy that will carry them to
championship contention in 2017.

Who the Sea Dogs hire will be interesting. With so many high-end NHL prospects on the team and the goal of
hosting the Memorial Cup already established, this is a team that will be
getting plenty of attention over the next few seasons. All this would suggest
that some big name coaches with professional experience might be interested in
the job.

While the Ted Nolans and Guy Bouchers of
the world are appealing, it shouldn’t be forgotten that there are plenty of
quality coaches elsewhere that are waiting for a head coaching opportunity.
Dominque Ducharme has worked out pretty okay in Halifax and he doesn’t have NHL
coaching experience.